The task: The Orange County Register's rankings are designed to show which elementary schools in Orange County provide the richest academic experience and strongest environment for learning - from schools with the best test scores to those with cultural diversity and small class sizes. The results generated a ranking system of 26 measurements for 388 public elementary schools.

All the data used to create the rankings came from the state Department of Education and is available publicly. The categories were chosen and weighted.

Who wasn't ranked: After consultation with county education leaders, we decided to omit K-8 schools from our rankings, but to keep smaller schools with fewer grade offers than the typical K-5 or K-6. Because we know parents will want to know how their schools performed, we provide the raw data for those K-8 schools without the rankings.

Here is how the Register determined the rankings:

OVERALL RANKING

This score is determined by combining a school's academic and school environment scores.

Academics forms 75 percent of the total ranking. School environment contributes 25 percent.

ACADEMICS

•2008 Academic Performance Index: An aggregate of STAR and other measures used by the state to determine school performance. The API accounts for one-fourth of the total Academics score.

•2007 API similar schools ranking: Used by the state to compare schools with others with similar demographics. The 2007 similar school score is the most recent. 2008 similar schools rankings won't be released until May, so the Register used the most recent 2007. This equals one-eighth of Academics score.

Note: Newport Elementary had issues with reporting some test results to the state in 2007 so the school did not have a 2007 similar school score. Trabuco Elementary and Silverado Elementary schools did not receive a score because of their small sizes. All other schools without a score in this category were not yet open in 2007.

Note: Newport Elementary had issues with reporting some test results to the state in 2007 so the school did not have a score in this area. All other schools without a score in this category were not yet open in 2007.

•2008 Schoolwide English proficiency: Measures the percent of students in the entire school who scored proficient or better on state English tests. This score equals one-eighth of the Academic score.

2008 Schoolwide math proficiency: Measures the percent of students in the entire school who scored proficient or better on state math tests. This score equals one-eighth of the Academic score.

•2008 Achievement Gap: A combination of 2008 math and English scores of low-income students and English learners, the two groups in Orange County that have struggled the most traditionally on state tests. This score equals one-eighth of the Academic score.

Note: Schools with fewer than 10 students classified as English learners or low-income can't report scores for these groups.

•2008 No Child Left Behind: Measures whether schools met all federal testing targets required by the 2001 act. This score equals one-eighth of the Academic score.

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

•2007-08 Average class size: Measures the average number of students in classes across the school.

•2008 Fitness Test: Measures the percent of students schoolwide who passed all six sections of the California Physical Fitness Test.

Note: The test is only administered to students in grades five, seven and nine. Schools without these grades have no score in this category.

•2007-08 Diversity: Measures the number of different ethnic, racial or socio-economic student groups at campuses. Schools with the most balanced number of different student groups scored higher in the diversity category.

Note: Elementary schools in Orange Unified do not have a score in this category because of an error in reporting data from the state.

•2008 School awards: The number of National Blue Ribbon or California Distinguished School awards

All school environment measures are weighted equally.

Note: Data for k-8 campuses was included, but these schools were not ranked because of the significant differences between those school and elementary campuses.

GREATSCHOOLS, INC.

The Orange County Register is partners with GreatSchools, a nonprofit that provides a format for reviewing school data and allowing parents to review their schools.

GreatSchools ranking: GreatSchools provides its own overall ranking, too, based solely on the averages of a school's California test scores. When compared with schools in a city, those numbers are adjusted based on a school's enrollment.

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